Draft Process: Day 6 of 7

94º ~ three more trip-digit days in the forecast and then a ‘cool down’ to the upper 90s, some small breezes in the upper branches, closer to the ground all is listless

Today’s draft was much a repeat of yesterday’s process, and a writer loathes nothing more than ineffective repetition. I’ll just nod my head in thanks once more to Lucie Brock-Broido. Again, I used a line from one of her poems for the title of the draft. “Seized with a Small Fever” comes from “To a Strange Fashion of Forsaking.” Again, I used some of her words, but today more of my own. I even had some inspiration cards splashed around for image jolting.

Yes, both yesterday and today, the lines I chose for titles contain the word ‘fever.’ No, I’m not sick, but perhaps this unrelenting heat influences me more than I notice. Also, I like the fact that fevers can bring an altered state of mind, which lets me find more magic in my speakers.

Today’s poem begins:

The linen here is burgundy, well-laundered.

This vessel rests beneath a gold-leafed
chandelier dimmed to sweetness.

The poem alternates between single-line stanzas and couplets. Also, I use the word ‘antipyretics.’ Not one of the words I found in Brock-Broido’s poems, although she reminds me that I can use Latinate words if they fit the tone of the rest of the poem. As a composition instructor, I’m constantly warning my students against using the “ten dollar words” to try and sound “smart.” We are working in those classes for logical communication, straight-forward arguments. A poem is something all together different, and while I love a poem grounded in everyday speech, it’s also fun to stretch my wings and see what I can do with a more academic diction. Brock-Broido certainly brings it out in her poems, and it doesn’t hurt her ‘accessibility,’ at least not for me.

And here is Lou-Lou (gaining health every day), adoring The Master Letters as I try to work.

One more day of my mini-poem-a-day self challenge. I can’t believe I have six possible poems waiting in my ‘In Progress’ folder. Tomorrow, that could be seven! Can’t wait to dive in and revise.

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Sandy Longhorn

Little Rock, AR -
I am the author of three books of poetry. My most recent book, The Alchemy of My Mortal Form, won the 2014 Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press. My other books include The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths (Jacar Press) and Blood Almanac (Anhinga Press). I received my MFA from the University of Arkansas Fayetteville and my BA in English from the College of St. Benedict. I teach at the University of Central Arkansas in the Arkansas Writers MFA Program, where I direct the C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference.